Cap table below. Decision integrity above.
Carta is the system of record for cap tables, ownership, and fund admin. Capital Refinery sits above it as the decision integrity layer for the IC — lane-aware memo, Risk Signals graded against firm policy, source-backed numbers, IC anchor on approval, signed exports for LP. The two stacks are complementary, not in conflict.
Different layers of the same workflow.
What Carta owns
Cap tables, ownership, fund admin.
Carta is the system of record for equity ownership, cap-table mechanics, 409A, vesting, and fund administration. The right tool for ownership and ops — institutional-grade, deeply embedded in the GP/LP infrastructure.
What Capital Refinery owns
The IC decision and the drift after it.
Lane-aware IC memo from raw deal pack, Risk Signals graded against firm policy, source-backed numbers, IC anchor on approval, drift tracking after the room votes, signed exports for board and LP. Different surface, different unit of work.
Why teams run both
Carta keeps the books. Capital Refinery defends the call.
When the LP asks about a position two years out, Carta shows the ownership; Capital Refinery shows the IC anchor and the drift since approval. Two parts of the same answer. Teams running Carta naturally extend into Capital Refinery for the IC layer.
Cap table is one trust layer. Institutional readiness measurement is another.
Carta is the system of record for cap table, equity, and securities operations — a trust primitive that lets every counterparty rely on the same equity record. Capital Refinery operates a complementary trust primitive: institutional readiness measurement on the operating business that sits beneath the cap table. Same architecture pattern (fingerprint + public verification + refusal discipline), applied to a different layer of the trust stack.
The two layers don’t compete — they reinforce. See institutional readiness and the same-engine architecture for the operating-business measurement layer that sits alongside the cap table layer Carta governs.
Already running Carta? Add the IC layer above it.
Bring us a position from your portfolio plus your existing cap-table data. Same-day diagnostic showing the IC memo, Risk Signals, and the drift since IC — alongside the Carta record, not duplicating it.
Keep Carta if you need cap table management and LP communications. Use Capital Refinery when you need a neutral, evidence-backed readiness artifact that shows what will survive institutional review.
Capital Refinery is the institutional measurement layer. It does not replace Carta; it sits next to it. The decision to engage is a routing decision, not a swap.
When to use CRIf Carta is the cap table and equity-admin layer but the IC memo, the readiness grade, and the drift-since-IC analysis on each position still live in scattered docs and spreadsheets, that’s when Capital Refinery’s IC layer enters. Carta records who owns what; CR records why the position was approved and what has moved against it since.
Working with an advisor or AI consultant? Use CR as the independent measurement layer via the Modernization Impact Review. Want to shape the methodology? Apply as a design partner.